Best First Hours

Red Steel 2

The first third-party Wii game was revealed in the May 2006 issue of
Game Informer. It promised intuitive swordfighting controls and
unmatched precision in gunplay, all in a stylish Yakuza setting. In the
six months between reveal and launch, Red Steel hype built to
unattainable levels. Disappointment was inevitable. But even with
tempered expectations, Red Steel is barely an average game, and the
case for motion controls in action games took a serious blow when it
failed to impress.

That said, the game rode the launch hype into some pretty decent
sales, eventually crossing the million mark. A sequel was rumored
almost as soon as the original appeared on store shelves. It took three
and a half years, but the sequel did eventually arrive in March 2010.
Barring the focus on guns and swords, Red Steel 2 is nothing like the
original: the realistic visuals are switched out for a cel-shaded
style, the Yakuza setting and characters are changed to an
otherworldly-mix of Samurai and Western trappings, and the hopes dashed
by waggle at launch are replaced with renewed fervor for precise motion
controls, which are provided by the Wii Motion Plus controller
attachment that Red Steel 2 requires.

Even if you made the mistake of purchasing Red Steel back in 2006, don't make the mistake of ignoring Red Steel 2 now.

This
singleplayer action-adventure stars a hero referred to only as
"Kusagari," as he is a banished member of the Kusagari warrior clan.
The hero wakes in the captivity of Payne, leader of a gang called the
Jackals. After a particularly abrasive motorcycle ride through the
desert, the hero manages to escape his captor, quickly finding his old
sensei under attack. The two fend off their attackers and the hero
learns that his clan has been wiped out and their sacred sword stolen
by Payne, and he vows revenge. The vengeance tale takes the hero across
a number of settings, mostly Western standbys like deserted towns and
mountain passes, on his way to exact justice. The plot is fairly
straightforward Western fare with some light supernatural elements.
It's unspectacular but enjoyable for most of us and completely
skippable for the rest.

Once the plot sets off, the game progresses primarily through
missions posted on bulletin boards. Find the billboard in a saloon,
listen to an audio request for help, and follow the arrows on the map
to the objective. Secondary objectives, like destroying wanted posters
or activating communication satellites, can be completed for extra
cash, but there are no extra rewards for those unconcerned with money.
It's a very simple mode of progression that always reminds the player
where the action is, but doesn't discourage from exploring to find
extra money or trouble. Anyone looking for a sprawling adventure full
of memorable sidequests and characters will be disappointed to find
that Red Steel 2 is essentially empty except for a couple of NPCs who
dole out missions and swarms of enemy gangsters and ninjas. The
entirety of Red Steel 2 is pretty much a ghost town, a realization I
had when I made it to the ghost town area and didn't find the eerie
silence out of the ordinary.

The game's biggest talking point, much like the original Red
Steel's, is the motion controls. Thankfully, they actually work
this time around. It will take a bit of personal adjustment, and some
tweaking in the options menu to find your favorite settings among the
modifiers (lock-on targeting, bounding boxes, pointer sensitivity,
etc.) but the controls really do define the experience as one only
possible on Wii. The on-screen sword swipes are quite accurate to the
player's motions, replicating swing speed and direction well but also
encouraging the player to use certain gestures that are easier for the
game to register. The guns are also unmatched on consoles in speed and
precision, though some of that is due to a dash of snap-to-target
aiming assistance. Even knowing there's a bit of cheating going on
behind the scenes, it's still incomparably satisfying to land those
lightning-fast, pinpoint-precise shots. It's clear that Ubisoft spent
plenty of time tweaking the controls to perfection. If this game
doesn't convince you that motion controls are the real deal, then
nothing will.

The combat in Red Steel 2 may surprise those who are expecting a
standard first-person shooter. Where its predecessor was a
run-of-the-mill shooter that occasionally switched gears to a broken
katana duel simulator, Red Steel 2 intertwines gunplay and swordplay
into what may best be described as a first person brawler, feeling more
like Devil May Cry than Halo. The player has the choice of bullets or
blades at any time, and is expected to make good use of both to take
out enemies. The game does a great job balancing the two sides of the
Red Steel coin, with swords being useful for hacking off enemy armor
and defending against attacks, while guns can finish off enemies
quickly from afar with precise aim. That said, a skilled swordsman
could make it through the game using only the katana techniques, while
a dedicated gunslinger would be somewhat less likely to survive the
quest. Still, it's tough to pick a favorite tactic when they're all so
deadly and delightful, especially when combined. Sensei Jian teaches
you how to use each technique you acquire, and encourages you to
perform combos and special finishing moves to earn more cash. Hacking
away at a thug will usually get the job done, but you'll earn some
extra cash by parrying their attack, shooting them in the kneecap,
dashing behind them, and stabbing them in the back. As if that sequence
of badassery wasn't rewarding enough on its own.

As you progress through the game, a sizable number of upgrades can
be purchased for your sword and the four guns acquired over the course
of the adventure, in addition to armor and life upgrades. Each gun can
be upgraded with greater ammo capacity, rate of fire, accuracy, and
stopping power. Additionally, each weapon has a special capstone
ability to purchase after maxing out its stats. The fully-upgraded
pistol gains ricochet bullets, which are mostly used for show, while
the Johnnygun (the Red Steel-verse version of the infamous Thompson
submachine gun) gains armor-piercing rounds at its best. Cool new
attacks and damage upgrades can be purchased for the sword as well, but
the player also automatically learns special animal-monikered
techniques from Sensei Jian at key points in the game. The Eagle
launches enemies into the air to start a combo, The Bear pounds the
ground to produce a stunning shockwave, and so forth. They're all very
stylish and, like everything else, upgradeable with cash.

Speaking of cash, it's literally everywhere. The environment is
littered with barrels, crates, pay-phones and other destructible
doodads that fork over generous payout. Also included are Sheriff Stars
and Hidden Tokens, which are tricky to shoot and hard to find,
respectively, and both reward the Kusagari with a few thousand dollars.
There are even safes that make gimmicky (but effective) use of the Wii
remote, requiring the player to slowly rotate the controller until a
clanking sound is heard from the remote's speaker, allowing one to
crack the safe and collect the gold bars inside. I expected to hate the
mundane concept of smashing junk for money, but the smooth and
involving controls actually made it enjoyable, and I never skipped an
opportunity to shoot up some trash bags.

As plentiful as the cash is, the upgrades are surprisingly
expensive and plentiful. I shot up every single piece of debris I found
and opened every safe I came across and popped dozens of Sheriff Stars
and completed tons of sidequests, and I still didn't have nearly enough
money to buy all the upgrades over the course of the adventure, leaving
two of the guns at their base stats. Luckily for those who want all the
best toys, it's easy to farm money from the environment because all the
trash that pays out money when destroyed is regenerated each time you
leave an area and come back.

Depending on your tendency to farm for upgrades and complete
sidequests, Red Steel 2 will likely last in the neighborhood of ten
hours on your first playthrough, though it may seem longer because
you'll be spending the entire time either fending off a healthy variety
of bad guys or fending off a healthy variety of junk strewn about. The
difficulty curve is fairly generous in the game's opening half, where I
don't think I was killed even once. There's a point, however, that the
game starts really testing your battle plan. Going all out on offense
may work for a while, but eventually quicker enemies will pick your
life away without you even realizing it, and bigger brutes will simply
rip you apart in a couple hits. It almost feels as if the first half is
there for players to learn the game mechanics at their own pace, while
the second half will test your skill to actually use them. It never
feels unfair, and some parts that should be challenging are made much
easier with the right upgrades, but you'll find challenge on the game's
harder difficulty levels if you don't on the standard setting.

Final Thoughts

Video: Red Steel 2 is one of the best-looking Wii games, with
an inviting art style and a framerate that I never noticed going below
60 FPS, an important factor in Wii shooters. Looks great in 480p as
well; less-informed passers-by may mistake it for a 360 game.

Audio: The sound effects are nothing to complain about, the voice
acting is tolerable at worst, and the music always seems to set the
mood well, sometimes by being absent.

Story: It's a standard
Samurai/Western revenge story, no real surprises here, good or bad.
Still, it's unintrusive and features a few pretty cool cutscenes.

Gameplay: It's a shooter that doesn't simply rely on headshots, and
a brawler where going all offense won't get you very far. It's
hardcore, polished and unique. It's exactly what the Wii needed.

Challenge: The difficulty curve is a bit on the generous side, but
players can customize their experience by either hoarding or passing on
the dozens of upgrades available. It can get difficult but never
frustrating. Easy and Hard modes are available as well.

Fun Factor: Unless you abhor the idea of gaming actively, you'll
probably find yourself feeling extra satisfied when the bodies hit the
floor. The variety of badass ways in which you can defeat foes
guarantees that those who like to kill stylishly will have plenty of
options to flex their creativity.

Longevity: The campaign weighs in at a respectable ten hours, but there isn't much to do otherwise. An additional Challenge Mode serves primarily as a level-select function that rewards you with a medal based on how much money you earn. No multiplayer, either. Not even a New Game+ to let you keep your upgrades in a new playthrough. Replaying the campaign on a higher difficulty level or using different weapons and tactics may prove enjoyable enough thanks to Red Steel 2's exemplary combat.

The Verdict: If you own a Wii, this is probably the game you've
been waiting for. Everyone who refers to themselves as a gamer should
try this out, because there's nothing else like it. Unfortunately you
can't rent Wii Motion Plus and it's required to get in on this action.
There is a SKU of the game available with Wii Motion Plus included for
just $10 more, however.

Wow, sounds like you really liked it. That's awesome. I've had this on my buy list for quite some time. But as usual, I'm waiting for a bargain. Now I'm more antsy to play it than I was before. Thanks for the awesome review, very thorough.